Category: Ryan Field Stepbrothers In the Attic

Here’s an interesting piece that explores whether or not LGBTQ people deal with more mental health issues than straight people.

A sweeping new study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness indicates that people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender are three times as likely to suffer from certain mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

I think there’s definitely something to this. We grow up repressing so many emotions that straight people take for granted there has to be some repercussion.

I must have missed this one totally. I don’t remember it happening, but I could be wrong.

Last year, the actor ruffled feathers by saying he was grateful for all the childhood bullying that cured him of being “really effeminate.”

He recently made this comment…

Things come out the way you don’t intend them to. It was a very upsetting time for me. … I learned from it and I’ve grown from it. … I’ve found you’ve just got to be true to yourself, be a good person and the work should speak for itself.”

The comments are mixed. Evidently, a lot of people saw this. This is a tricky one because, of course, there’s nothing wrong with effeminate men…gay or straight. The problem is what society expects ALL men to be. And frankly, I think that’s changing for ALL men…gay and straight.

The Vatican On Gay Priests

Don’t laugh (or cry) too hard when you read this one.

For the record, The Vatican still doesn’t think those of us with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” or people who “support the so-called ‘gay culture’” should be priests.

A new statement reiterates the ban on gay priests that’s been in place since 2005, stating that those who “practice homosexuality” will not be welcomed into the priesthood.

Just in time for World AIDS Day on 1 December, the city’s mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, unveiled the seven meter tall sculpture called ‘Living by Numbers’.Designed by openly gay French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, the AIDSmonument resembles an abacus which counts ‘down the moment that AIDS has left our world for good’.

I didn’t know this, and I actually never even heard of Hornet. But according to this article, Hornet considers itself the world’s second largest gay hook up app. We’re talking about big money here.

Dating app Hornet has announced that it has raised $8million (€7.6million) in its first round of institutional investment funding. The money comes from venture capital fund Ventech China.The app, which was founded in 2011, says that it has over 15 million total and 3 million monthly active users and claims to be ‘the world’s second largest gay social network’.China-based social network Blued, which raised £18.9million from DCM Ventures in November 2014, claims to have 27million registered users and is thought to be the biggest gay dating network in the world.

You can read more about this here. One of these days I’m going to check one of these places out myself just out of curiosity. While I have no need for an app like this, whenever I post something about one I feel so dumb.

Anti-LGBT North Carolina Law and Monetary Losses

Evidently, the controversial law in North Carolina that’s been considered Anti-LGBT from the start has allegedly caused a $400 million loss since March.

Newly obtained emails from the North Carolina Commerce Department points to the anti-LGBTI laws in Charlotte as the reason for a back off from investment in North Carolina.The emails outline a plan to move the proposed 700 job venture by CoStar from Charlotte in North Carolina to Richmond in Virginia.Jeff Edge, a Charlotte Chamber of Commerce official, wrote an email that cites CoStar was ‘broadsided with their pushback over the HB2 issue in Charlotte.’Here’s the rest. The $400 million number comes from The Business Insider.Maybe they’ll wake up and think twice about this law now. It usually takes money…or a loss of it…to get some of these politicians to “evolve.”

I think this is interesting because I love Twitter so much.CNN anchor Anderson Cooper wondered aloud on Tuesday (29 November) how Trump remains as prolific a tweeter as he was when he was still a presidential hopeful.

‘We are in uncharted waters with a president-elect who is continuing to tweet as he did – maybe a little bit less – during the campaign.

‘When I first heard that he was tweeting about something that was on this broadcast – a number of tweets – factually incorrect tweets – I kept thinking, “Doesn’t he have a briefing book on ISIS to be reading?”

I’m not a huge Trump supporter, however, I can’t help but wonder if Anderson Cooper is being a little disingenuous here. He has to know why Trump is tweeting. I think we all know why Trump is tweeting. Trump is communicating with the people who helped elect him, he’s communicating with the public at large, and he’s not depending on people like Anderson Cooper who get paid millions of dollars to communicate for him.

No matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on, this should be a good thing for you. Think about it without Trump in the story line. That’s why they call Twitter “Social Media.” The key word being “media.” Mark Zuckerberg spotted and nailed this years ago. I think if Hillary Clinton had done more tweeting and less tea dance at Wilton Manors she would be President right now instead of Trump.

I’ll never understand why straight people don’t get this kind of humor from gay men.

Said Frank on Hardball: ‘Scalia wrote the opinion, he was very strongly on the other side of [flag burning], and [Trump] cited Scalia as his favorite justice. I think there was a pronunciation problem there. You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning.’

But it reminds me of a review of the TV show Vicious I once read by a straight person who just didn’t get the humor of some gay men. It’s not always PC, in spite of what perfect PC George Takei has led you to believe. And most of the gay men I know think Vicious is one of the all time best gay TV shows ever.

More Older Men Diagnosed With HIV

I didn’t know this. And it’s focused on men in the UK. Evidently, more older men are being diagnosed with HIV than ever before.

However, others are acquiring HIV when older. Sometimes after many years of practicing safer sex.

New diagnoses among older people have nearly doubled in the last decade. In 2015, there were 1,018 new diagnoses of HIV in people aged 50 and older in the UK, compared to 667 in 2006.

The article goes on to answer why this is happening. It’s a long article with some very insightful thoughts that I think is definitely worth reading no matter what age you are.